Public schools slipping, officials must grasp reality...

Public schools slipping, officials must grasp reality

I am amazed at all the people who are willing to take what the

school district says about the Westside at face value. If you listen

to the school district, you would think that greater than 80% of the

Westside does not speak English. But if you look at the city’s data,

over 80% of the people speak English. There are more RVs and boats

parked in the driveways of Westsiders than in Mesa Verde. So where

are all of the English speakers?

They are obviously not going to public school.

We are building monuments to Newport-Mesa Unified School District

failures, such as Page Private School, Carden Hall, Pegasus School

and all of the religious schools in the area. Coastline College rents

one of our school buildings right in the middle of Mesa Verde because

taxpayers have lost faith in the districts to teach our children to

be competitive in a world economy. Like all Americans, we like to

help the unfortunate, but we should not sacrifice the children of

majority of the taxpayers in Costa Mesa to accomplish this goal.

If we are going to improve our schools, we need the district to

admit there is a problem. We need to kill all the urban myths. It

does not take five to seven years to learn English, which our Asian

students demonstrate so clearly. They learn an entirely new alphabet

and become the best performers. Parent involvement is key to the

child’s success. We need to hold the parents accountable. The city

needs to be held accountable for overcrowding of our housing and the

transient population. More money given to the district does not

translate into a better education for the majority of taxpayers.

The API scores are a tool for us to hold our schools accountable.

Whether you go to Andersen or Pomona, you need to ask the district

why your scores are slipping. The district teachers have the skills.

I do agree with Mary Cappellinni, we do have some amazingly good

teachers and we need to make them successful. Successful people

follow success, and we should not tolerate the loss our highly

skilled personnel because the district took its eye off of

performance.

I look forward to seeing the district releasing its API scores, so

we can focus on training our children for competition in the world

economy. Our test standards should be considered as a minimum gage of

the quality of education given in our district.

JAMES JONES

Costa Mesa

He defended his country, but he can’t protect his home

I am writing this letter because it is Veterans Day and because I

am a proud Veteran of World War II, the Korean Conflict and Vietnam.

I am more proud today than I was when I went into the Merchant

Marines during World War II -- at the age of 15 -- to defend our

country against tyranny and dictators.

At 17, I enlisted in the U.S. Navy, in which I served for the next

22 years.

Now I am wondering if I have wasted 22 years of my life in service

to this country, so that companies such as Brown Associates can take

my home of 26 years with very little compensation.

I am a home owner in the El Nido Mobile Home Park in Costa Mesa.

The property is owned by Brown Associates, which has decided to close

the park in favor of erecting a medical building on the property.

Our deputy city attorney is now making deals with the attorneys

from Brown Associates that affect my life, and I have no say.

Is this why I committed 22 years of my life? So that city

officials can do what they want with it? Or has it all been in vain?

DICK MATHERLY

Costa Mesa

Keep our kids wired, with computers that plug into walls

Steve Smith, I read your article regarding the Palm Pilots with

great interest.

My daughter is a seventh-grader at Ensign and told me the first

day of school that they would be getting them. My reaction was “Why?

What do you need one for?”

I agree with what your article said. I also think the money would

be better spent getting computers for the schools that don’t have

them.

Just thought you would like to know a reader was paying attention.

JEANINE BASS

Costa Mesa

One of the hardest lessons will be how to use the Palm Pilots

Thank you for publishing the column about Palm Pilots for the

school children. I have a Palm Pilot. I am kind-of a gadget geek.

They are not easy to use, and like everybody else who has one, I soon

gave it up after about three or four months.

It seems an extraordinary thing to me that these were being issued

to children in the schools with money from a very big grant. I’m glad

Steve Smith wrote that column, and please thank him.

VIVIAN BOULOS

Newport Beach